SVL-Day 6

Roots

1. Peri: around

• Example: peripheral: adj. related to the boundary: lying on the outside
• Sentence: The students coversation about clothes was peripheral to our conversation about Huck Finn.

2. Super: over; above

• Example: supercilious: adj. looking down on other people as worthless
• Sentence: she was extremely supercilious and would often look down on people poorer than her.

3. Para: beside

• Example: parody: n. a humorous imitation of a literary work
• Sentence: The Scream movies are parodies of previous "slasher" films.

4. Auto: self

• Example: autonomous: adj. self-governing
• Sentence: Hawaii has wanted to be an autonomous country free from control by the United States for a long time.

5. Ile: related to

• Example: versatile: adj. having various talents
• Sentence: She was a very versatile actress and could play many parts, young or old, rich or poor, crazy or sane, with equal talent.

6. Leg: law

• Example: legitimate: adj. legal
• Sentence: There are several legitimate ways to celebrate your 18th birthday: bowling, fishing, lawn darts, easting at Chuck-E-Cheese.

7. Voc: voice; call

• Example: evoke: v. to call out from the past (like a memory or spirit)
• Sentence: The pictures from the old box evoked many memories from my childhood, many beautiful, some sad, some embarrassing.

8. Sub: under

• Example: subversive: adj. wishing to overthrow the government
• Sentence: Because they threatened the "status quo" many social activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Cesar Chavez were labeled as subversive by the government.

9. Mal: bad; evil

• Example: maladroit: adj. clumsy; awkward
• Sentence: I'm sometimes a maladroit dancer and am so awkward even my friends refuse to acknowledge me on the dance floor.

10. Post: after

• Example: posthumous: adj. after one's death
• Sentence: Even though he had been known to be stingy during his life, the miser's will gave a great posthumous gift to charity.